Women are the house owners in this Maha village | Fusion - WeRIndia

Still, gender discrimination is seen in many urban areas. But, this tiny village in Maharashtra promotes gender equality with its deeds.

Bakapur village has around 2,000 residents. The village panchayat took a decision in 2008 to promote gender equality. As per the decision, every house should display the name of a woman as the owner or the co-owner of the house.

In other words, any house in this village is not owned by a man alone. He shall be the co-owner along with the name of a woman from the family. At the same time, a woman can either be a single owner or joint owner of the house. The names of all house owners will be in the records of the gram panchayat.

Sudamrao Palaskar was the village sarpanch in 2008. All members of the panchayat supported the proposal for the security of their village women and the future of their children.

Before that, there was a fear in the village that men could sell the houses for buying liquor.

Like many villagers, some men in Bakapur village were addicted to liquor and other toxic substances. It was quite common for them to sell their houses for their addictions. As a result, their family members had to lose their houses and become shelter-less.

To avoid such situations, the village panchayat decided to make women the owners of their houses.

Men can be joint or co-owners of a house if they want, but they should not be a single owner of the house. So, if any man wants to buy a house in this village, he has to buy it along with a woman from his family.

Even the nameplate of each house has the name of the woman of the house.

As women are the owners of the houses, they have full authority over the sale of their homes. It created a sense of security in them. Besides, they play a vital role in financial matters related to their families.

All villagers welcomed the decision. Hence, the practice has been going on for 14 years.

Image Credit: techpassword.com / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Primay_school_(Bakapur).jpg